Passwordless multifactor authentication startup Beyond Identity Inc.  today introduced new integration offerings with cloud cybersecurity company Zscaler Inc. to strengthen zero-trust architecture and reduce attack surfaces.

The integration provides enterprises with continuous identity and device inspection and verification, enabling the real-time exchange of risk signals. The risk signals are incorporated before initial user authentication and monitored continuously, increasing the security of the entire user session.

Ongoing risk signal exchange between Beyond Identity and Zscaler also allows for near-real-time notification and enforcement should a device fall out of compliance during an active session. Additional support allows for session termination and remediation to ensure both the user and device are ready for re-authentication.

“Beyond Identity is committed to delivering the industry’s most secure and robust phishing-resistant authentication solution while removing the user friction that has stalled enterprise rollout of existing MFA solutions,” Kurt Johnson, chief strategy officer and head of corporate development at Beyond Identity, said in a statement. “To achieve this objective, Beyond Identity is building an ecosystem of like-minded leaders, like Zscaler, where real-time information exchange can raise the level of application and system security and form the foundation of an enterprise’s journey to zero-trust security.”

Amit Raikar, vice president of tech alliances and business development at Zscaler, commented that the integration will deliver customers  “another strong option to enforce device-driven conditional access continuously, and adapt to their risk policies and application sensitivity.”

With the integration, Beyond Identity and Zscaler customers can modernize their multifactor authentication strategies, minimize the risk of password-based and MFA-bypass breaches and extend the footprint of existing cybersecurity investments. Through the elimination of the need for a password, usability and user satisfaction are improved while removing entire authentication attack vectors.

Beyond Identity is a venture capital-backed company, having achieved unicorn status in February when it raised $100 million on a $1.1 billion valuation to expand research and development.

The integration isn’t the first for Zscaler, who announced DevSecOps integration with HashiCorp in September. Zscaler also delivers a dynamic edge experience to partners with help from the Amazon Web Services Inc. Marketplace.

In an interview with theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s livestreaming studio earlier this year, Raveesh Chugh, vice president of public cloud partnerships, and Stelio D’Alo, senior director of cloud business development at Zscaler, discussed how the company offers secure connections between applications and business to get the most out of the cloud while staying safe from growing cyber threats:

Image: Beyond Identity